Chapter 212 I run a seasoning stall, how can I sell you greenhorn?

Wang Jianye looked in the direction of Qiao Jianliang's introduction. The stall owner, Old Man Yang, was sitting on a small stool behind the stall, puffing on his pipe. There were more than ten bags of condiments on the stall in front of him. He had all kinds of common seasonings such as peppercorns, aniseed, bay leaves, etc.

"Uncle Yang, it's me."

Qiao Jianliang walked to the stall and greeted Old Man Yang with a smile.

Old Man Yang took a closer look and said lazily, "I know it's you. What do you want to buy?"

Before Qiao Jianliang opened his mouth, a man came to the stall and said to Old Man Yang, "Uncle, do you have any Hanyuan peppers? I need three pounds urgently."

Wang Jianye and Qiao Jianliang looked at the man, a middle-aged man with a hurried expression, about the same age as Zhou Qingde, nearly forty years old.

"First come, first served, don't you understand?" Qiao Jianliang said with a discontented sigh, "Go get in line at the back." Then he said to Old Man Yang, "Uncle Yang, do you have any Hanyuan peppercorns here? I want six pounds."

"Yes, but that's all."

Old Man Yang pointed to one of the cloth bags. Wang Jianye walked over, grabbed a grain and smelled it, then nodded to Qiao Jianliang, "That's it."

"Well, we'll take all the bags, Uncle Yang. How many pounds do you weigh?"

Qiao Jianliang picked up the bag, estimated that it was less than six pounds, and handed it to Uncle Yang.

The older brother next to him got anxious, "Wait a minute, you want all of them? I asked for the Hanyuan pepper first, so you should give it to us first."

"We came here before you, so you should go to the back." Qiao Jianliang sneered and said, "Sir, how much do you sell it for?"

"Three cents for an ounce." Grandpa Yang said as he picked up an old-fashioned beam scale from the ground. He placed the bag of Hanyuan peppercorns that Qiao Jianliang handed to him on the scale pan, then moved the weight. When the beam scale was balanced, Grandpa Yang read out the weight on it:
"Five catties and three ounces, five times sixteen is eighty, add three ounces, and the total is eighty-three ounces. If one ounce is three cents, then three times three equals nine..."

Old Man Yang had learned the multiplication formula well, and he quickly calculated the price, "Two dollars and forty-nine cents. Since you bought a lot, I'll save you the nine cents and just give you two dollars and forty cents."

At that time, the hexadecimal system was still used, with one catty equal to sixteen taels, which was truly half a catty and eight taels.

A few years later, after the "Order on Unifying Measurement Units" was announced, the weight of a catty was changed from sixteen taels to ten taels.

Before and after the reform, the weight of the unit "jin" has not changed and has always been 31.25 grams. Now the 50-liang system is implemented, and one liang is grams. In the future, the -liang system will be implemented, and one liang will become grams.

"No, Uncle Yang, your Hanyuan pepper is more expensive than meat. How much does meat cost per pound?" Qiao Jianliang couldn't help but say.

"It took several months to transport these from Sichuan Province. If you think they are too expensive, I think they are too expensive too."

"Come on, Uncle Yang, I don't know you. How could these peppercorns of yours be shipped from Sichuan? They are clearly grown on peppercorn trees transplanted from Sichuan by a family in Changping. They shouldn't be that expensive."

Qiao Jianliang has dealt with Uncle Yang for many years. Others may not understand, but Qiao Jianliang knows it very well.

Uncle Yang, who had his past exposed, put the bag on the ground with an embarrassed look on his face. "Are you here to cause trouble? Just tell me whether you want it or not."

"If this is the real Hanyuan pepper shipped from Sichuan Province, I would definitely buy it at three cents an ounce, but what if it's not?" Qiao Jianliang asked Wang Jianye to be patient, saying that you are good at cooking, but I am good at bargaining.

The middle-aged man next to him saw the opportunity and said, "Sell this to me, sir. I don't mind the price."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man took out a handful of money from his pocket and began to count it.

Qiao Jianliang said dissatisfiedly: "Tsk, who are you? Why do you always say first come first served? Go to the back and line up. It will be your turn after we finish shopping!"

"Comrade, I really need this Hanyuan pepper urgently. Can you leave some for me?" Seeing that Qiao Jianliang was about to buy all of it, the middle-aged man hurriedly said.

"I don't care whether you have an urgent need or not. What does it have to do with me?" Qiao Jianliang snorted and was about to take out the money to pay the bill.

The middle-aged man was unwilling to give up. "Comrade, I'm the chef of Tianfu Food House. We have a banquet tonight and we need a lot of Hanyuan peppercorns. I went to several places and finally found it here. Comrade, if you don't have anything urgent, can you let me buy it first?"

Tianfu Shifang is the ceiling of Sichuan cuisine in Beijing, just like Fengzeyuan is the ceiling of Shandong cuisine in Beijing.

Sichuan cuisine uses rigorous selection of ingredients, and making a good Sichuan dish is inseparable from good seasonings.

"The chef of Tianfu Food House is amazing. We are also from Fengze Garden." Qiao Jianliang proudly introduced Wang Jianye beside him. "This is Chef Wang, who made the signature spicy and sour potato shreds that are so delicious that you will cry. Fengze Garden has been packed with people these days. This time he bought Hanyuan peppers to make braised pork, so that it can be improved and become the next signature dish that will make our Fengze Garden popular again. This is a big deal for our Fengze Garden."

"Master Wang from Fengze Garden?" The head chef of Tianfu Food House frowned and looked at the handsome young man standing next to Qiao Jianliang. "So young? You must be kidding me."

"Believe it or not." Qiao Jianliang ignored him and looked at Old Man Yang. "One dollar and fifty cents, I'll take them all. How about that?"

"One dollar and fifty cents? It's not even enough to afford it! I won't sell it."

Old Man Yang waved his hand and asked them to leave.

At this time, the chef of Tianfu Food House intervened again, "Uncle, I don't bargain, two dollars and forty cents, right? I want all of them, sell them to me."

Qiao Jianliang pushed him aside and said, "First come, first served, do you understand the rules?" Then he bargained with Old Man Yang, "It's only two dollars at most. Just tell me whether you want to sell it or not. If not, I won't buy from you next time."

Old Man Yang sighed, "Okay, I'll take a small loss and consider it as the beginning of the business."

Qiao Jianliang took out money from his pocket, paid the bill, and took a bag of Hanyuan pepper from Old Man Yang.

The deal was done, but the chef of Tianfu Food House was still unwilling to give up. He found Wang Jianye next to Qiao Jianliang and asked, "Are you really the chef who made the superb spicy and sour potato shreds at Fengze Garden?"

Wang Jianye nodded, "It's me, what's wrong?"

The chef of Tianfu Food House continued, "He just said that you want to use Hanyuan peppercorns to make braised pork, right? But how can you use peppercorns to make braised pork? It will make the braised pork become woody and the taste will be bad. If you are really that Master Wang, you should know this.

If you plan to use these Hanyuan peppercorns to try to improve the braised pork, then I suggest you don't buy so much. Buy less than one or two taels. After all, Shandong cuisine restaurants like Fengzeyuan rarely use Hanyuan peppercorns, which have a strong flavor. If you buy too much, it will be a waste."

(End of this chapter)